Korean Vegetarian Dumplings

servings: makes 50 dumplings

* 2 10-oz packages firm tofu
* 1 medium onion, finely chopped
* 1 leek, chopped
* 2 green onions, finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 tsp sesame oil
* 2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 50 dumpling wrappers
* vegetable oil for frying

1. Press the excess water from the tofu. Crumble the tofu and place in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add remaining ingredients (except the wrappers and vegetable oil) & combine until mixed.

3. Pour some cold water in a small bowl for dipping.

4. To make the dumplings, place a wrapper in the palm of your hand. Spoon enough filling into the middle to leave about 1/2 inch of empty wrapper. Dip your finger in the cold water & wet 1/2 the edges of the wrapper, then fold in half & press to seal it. Repeat with all of the wrappers.

5. Pour enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a pan & heat over medium heat. Place several dumplings in the pan, but don't let them touch. Fry until golden brown & crispy on one side, them flip them and cook all sides until golden & crispy all over. Cook all dumplings, adding more oil as needed.

Tangy Vegetable Dip

Serves: about 6 (makes one cup of dip)
Time: 15 min

*1/2 cup non-fat mayonnaise
*1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
*1 tbsp chopped onion
*1 tbsp fresh minced parsley
*1/2 tsp seasoning salt
*1/2 tsp Worcestershire
*1 to 4 drops hot sauce

1. Combine the ingredients.
2. Chill until ready to serve with vegetables (such as baby carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, etc).


Note: This is also good with dinner, served instead of a salad!

Honey Granola

~ Taryn & Brendan's alterations of the recipe from "Breakfast Lunch Tea Rose Bakery" by Rose Carrarini. Thanks, guys!~


(pistachio granola image from Taryn and Brendan)

Prep time: several hours

*5 1/3 cups rolled oats
*2 cups chopped walnuts (you can use any combination: almonds or seeds or whatever)
*1/4 cup roasted ground flaxseeds (the original recipe calls for wheatgerm)
*1/2 cup vegetable oil
*1 cup honey
*1/2 cup water
*a few drops of vanilla
*a pinch of cinnamon (Taryn & Brendan caution: don't use more than a pinch!)
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*dried or fresh fruit to serve

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a bowl, mix together the oats, honey, nuts, seeds, ground flaxseeds.
3. Put the oil, honey, water, vanilla, cinnamon & salt in a saucepan. Bring just to a boil, stirring constantly, then pour over the dry ingredients & mix well.
4. If the mixture is too wet add more oats - there should be no excess liquid & it should be sticky.
5. Spread out evenly on a couple baking trays & bake for about 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
6. Reduce the temperature to 275 degrees & continue baking until the granola is golden, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
7. Switch off the oven & leave to dry out for at least another hour, or up to overnight.

Note: Taryn & Brendan say not to store the granola with raisins or other dried fruit because it makes the fruit hard.

Homemade Yogurt

~special thanks to Taryn and Brendan for this recipe~

Apparently this is really easy to make. The recipe is for plain yogurt, but it can be sweetened with honey or maple syrup after the yogurt is made. The recipe is called "Effie's Mom's Incredibly Easy Recipe for Homemade Yogurt"; it originally comes from the website No Impact Man & has been only slightly modified below.


Prep time: wont be ready until the next day

*milk (use your containers as your guide for how much milk to use)
*1 tbsp live yogurt (to get the culture going)
*you'll also need glass or plastic containers & 2 or 3 towels

1. Boil milk (Taryn and Brendan use 1% and say that you can use soy or almond milk; No Impact Man recommends whole milk) in a large pot until it boils and foams at the top. Shut it off before it spills over.
2. Let the milk cool off until you can keep your pinky finger in the milk for 10 seconds without burning it (No Impact Man says: "a temperature reading would have been great for this step but I don't think they had these back in Greece 70 years ago"... apparently Effie's mom is Greek and quite old).
3. In a small bowl that holds about 2 cups, beat one tablespoon of live yogurt until smooth. Slowly add one cup of the milk from the pot, stirring slowly until combined.
4. Transfer this mixture from step #3 to the pot of boiled milk, slowly pouring it into the pot while mixing the pot of milk (with a spatula or long spoon) the whole time in order to combine thoroughly.
5. Pour into glass or plastic containers and seal them.
6. Arrange the containers together and cover with 2 to 3 towels keeping them in a warm place of the house (No Impact Man says: "and no, you don't need some sort of a yogurt maker gadget to keep them warm"). Let them sit overnight.
7. In the morning place them in the refrigerator and they will get cold. Yogurt is done.
8. Do a dance!

Pear with Vanilla Almond Dip

Prep time: less than 5 min!
Servings: 1

*1/8 tsp almond extract
*1/4 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
*dash of nutmeg
*pear, sliced

1. Stir the almond extract & the nutmeg into the yogurt.
2. Serve with the sliced pear.


Note: This is unbelievably delicious. I can't explain it.